The Chinese army's DF-21C missiles use terminal guidance for increased accuracy. The latest version of this system is the DF-21D, an anti-ship ballistic missile now aimed at U.S. aircraft carriers. (Air Power Australia

East Asia faces a dilemma of historic proportions: dynamic and fastest-growing, the region increasingly is haunted by the specter of conflict. A war there could draw the world's three largest economies — the United States, China, and Japan — into a conflagration of untold dimensions.